GANGNEUNG, South Korea (Reuters) - Denis Ten of Kazakhstan could have retired after unexpectedly winning bronze at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. But his desire to return to his Korean roots in Pyeongchang pushed him to overcome debilitating injuries.

Ten finished 11th at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. In Sochi four years later, he became the first skater from Kazakhstan to win an Olympic medal.

Ten beat Spain’s Javier Fernandez by just over one point overall in Sochi. But in Pyeongchang, Ten finished well back of the six-time European champion, who was second heading into the free skate.

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At the Grand Prix event in Moscow in October last year, Ten finished ninth. A month later he finished eighth at the Grand Prix event in France, and he finished 15th at the Four Continents Cup in Taiwan in January.

Ten said the road to Pyeongchang had been marred with obstacles and complications but that he kept fighting for a chance to skate at the Olympics in his ancestral homeland.

“I know a large number of people who have followed my success over a long period are on my side here, not only because I’m a figure skater but because, first of all, I’m a Korean,” he said.

In August, Ten posted on Instagram a picture of himself beside a monument to his great grandfather, Min Geung-ho, a Korean general who died in the country’s fight for independence in the city on Wonju.

“I had to make sacrifices to be able to compete in Pyeongchang,” Ten said. “It’s a great honor for me to be in Korea. I had been waiting for this competition for a long time.”